Shaping and stapling machine



Nov. 1, 1927. 1347, 143

- C. H. GRINGS SHAPING AND STAPLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 21. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.

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means of the mechanism which is herein Patented Nov. 1, 1927.

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SHAPING AND STAPLING MACHINE.

Application. filed August 21, 1926. Serial No. 130,657.

My invention relates to improvements in shaping and stapling machines for loops, and the objects of my improvements are to provide a machine operable first, to shape a strip of flexible material into a loop with approximated ends, and second, to secure together the approximated ends by means of clinched staples passed therethrough after the formation of the loop.

I have accomplished the above objects by after described and claimed, and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively side and front elevations of my improved machine. Fig. 3 is a detail view on a larger scale, with parts in section, and other parts removed or broken away, of the loop shaping and stapling devices of'said machine. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the parts shown in said Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view, on a magnified scale, of one of the prong'ed staples such as are preferably used in the above operations. Fig. 6 is an end elevation, full size, of a harness loop with portions in section, showing its approximated ends secured together by means of clinched staples such as that shown in Fig. 5, by the operation of my said machine. Fig. 7 is'a top plan of the loop and its fasteners shown in said Fi 6.

l t is to be understood that various modifications may be made in the details of my machine without departing from the invention.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, my machine has its moving elements mounted upon a fixed standard 1 of columnar shape, having a forwardly curved arcuate head-block 16 supplied with a vertically apertured bearing 17 terminally, and with an erect bearing'projection apertured to seat a pintle 18 upon which one end of a hand-lever 19 is mounted to swing to and fro forwardly. The handle part of this lever is set off from the lower part and a cross-bar 20 is pivoted at 45 to this lower part, the rear end of the cross-bar being connected to the top of said head-block by means of a coiled tension spring 22. A stem 43 is mounted slidably in the apertu'red bearing 17 and has at its lower end punches or a pressure member 42,'which is removably secured and replaceable by others. This member 42 may have one or more presser pins, so that either one or more staples may bedriven thereby at one actuation, as desired. A collar 56 is secured upon another stem 46 below the-bearing part 17 and slidable through another aperture thereof, and a sleeve 48 is secured by a set-screw upon the stem 43 below and in contactwith they lower face of the collar 56 by meansof a projection of said sleeve apertured to be also seated on the stem 46 and kept yield-- ingly in that position by means of a coiled spring 47 engaged between the projection and a widened lower part 57 of thestem46 to which is secured'anangular foot 40 by means of a set-screw .60. The above-men tioned collar 56 is secured upon the'stem 46 by means of a set-screw 52.- Thehorizontal part of the foot 40 has a vertical. apertured seat in which. is remo-vably mounted a rimmed hollow'staple holder 41, to receive in'its hollow 53 a single two pronged staple 49 50, with points down in a vertical posltlon, or the holder as shown may have a pair of hollows 53 to in like manner hold a pair of such staples. ,Theinterior walls oft-he holder 41 are preferably of a config: uration to: fit loosely around the elliptic heads of the staples 49. The presser shank of the parts 42 is removably mounted in a socket in the stem 43 and secured by a setpart securedv to awidened lower part 57 of the stem 46 by means ofa set-screw 60. v

The numeral 15 denotes abracketed arm fixed upon the top of the columnar stand part 1, and its terminal top surface is depressed to'seat a'removable forwardly projecting loop supporting plate 36, whose top near its forward end is of less thickness to provide a shoulder to stop the rear edge ofa loop strip 51positioned medially across it. "A thicker bar 39 is superposed upon the plate 36 with its forward part spaced apart therefrom to receive said strip 51 loosely therebetween, the contour of the forward part of said bar being a counterpart of the inner wall of theloop 51 when fully shaped and'secured together at its approximated ends. The arm 15, bar-39 and. plate .36 are aperturedvertically to receive a fastening screw 59; The forward parts of the bar 39 and plate 36 are vertically below the staple holder 41.

Also below the above parts a pivot-screw 35 is mounted in the forward end wall of the arm 15, and upon this are pivoted the inner ends of upwardly swinging shaper devices 27-3O as shown in said Fig. 4 when elevated, and in Fig. 2 when lowered. I

The shaper element in each case is removably secured to the body 27 by means of a screw 31. The screw 31 is reinforced by means of another screw 33 which is seated in an apertured lug 32 on the outer end of the body 27 and which bears endwise upon the outer end of the shaper 30 to thus maintain it and said screw '31 steady and free from endwise displacements. Each shaper 30 has a raised and inturned inner terminal adapted, when the shaper is swung upwardly, to grasp an end part of a strip 51 to compress it about the abutting side wall of the bar 39, the inturned tip 34 pressing the strip end inwardly upon the top of said bar to have its end wall approximated closely to the like end wall of the other end of the strip which is simultaneously similarly operated upon by the other shaper 30. This part of the operation takes place while the stem 43 and its foot 40 is in its upper position shown in said Fig. 1, where there is no interference to this shaping of the loop. After a strip 51 has been placed between the bar 39 and the plate 36, the following mechanism is actuated to produce the above operation of said elements in shaping the strip into a closed loo-p shown in Fig. 6.

Upon the lower rear part of the standard 1 is a pair of transversely apertured lugs seating a pintle 4 upon which is pivoted the medialangular portion of a lever 2 which projects forwardly through a vertical slot 28 in the standard and has a pedal at its forward end for foot pressure in rocking it downwardly.

The rear upwardly inclined part of said lever is pivoted at 5 to the lower rear end of another bent lever 7 which is pivoted forwardly of its angle at 8 within another slot 29 in said standard 1. The forwardly projecting part of the lever at 9 has a terminal fork 10 provided with a pair of longitudinal slots 12 to seat a pintle 11 for free play therein, the pintle 11 being mounted in the lower end of a stem 23 which is vertically slidalole in an apertured bearing 14 formed in a forwardly projecting horizontal arm 13 fixed on said standard 1. Upon the upper end of the stem 23 is fixed a shank part 24, secured by a screw 58, and having divergent upwardly projecting arms 25, with furcations to receive therebetween antifriction rollers 26. These rollers bear against the lower faces of said bodies 27 which carry the loop-shapers 30. Upon the upper faces of the bodies 27 near their inner ends, are spaced low projections 54 for a function to be described. The upper face of the forward part of the bar 39 has a spaced pair of short longitudinal shallow and narrow grooves 37 for a purpose to be described. A coiled tension spring 38 is connected between the arm 15 and the screw 58 (see Fig. 1) which fastens the shank 24 on the stem 23.

After a strip of leather or other flexible material 51 has been manually positioned by the operator medially across the plate 36 under the former bar 39, the operator may de-- press the lever 2, and thus cause the lifting of the stem 23 while tensioning a spring 3 connected between said lever and the standard 1. The rollers 26 swing up the bodies 27, the shapers 3034 grasping the end parts of the strip 51 and forcing them under compression about the forming bar 39 to approximate their ends above it as shown in Fig. 4. Simultaneously, the studs 54 upon the upper faces of the bodies27 push upwardly powerfully upon the relatively elastic thinner end part of the plate 36 to cause it to rise and compress the strip 51 against the lower face of the former bar 39. The object of this is to provide for the proper handling of a strip 51 which may be of less than average thickness at its'middle, so that this part may be nevertheless firmly gripped by the plate 36 to prevent shifting during the loop shaping operation.

The operator holds down the lever 2 so that the shapers or inturned jaws 3034- may remain grasping the loop while the following operation of inserting and clinching the staples49-50 is effected, This operation is effected when the operator swings downwardly the handlever 19, tensioning the spring 22, pushing downwardly the stem 43, the projection 48 of which pushes upon and compresses the spring 47 which thrusts downwardly the foot 40 upon the loop ends covering the former bar 39.

The operator while lowering said handlever 19, has placed a staple, or staples, 49, points down in the hollow, or hollows, of the holder 41, before the presser pins 42 enter the said hollow or hollows. The pins 42 press down the staples causing their prongs to penetrate the approximated ends of the strip 51 at opposite sides of their separation,

and the advancing points pass into the outer parts of the grooves 37 in the bar 39 which causes them to curve inwardly then upwardly and clinch upon and into the loop tosecurely fasten the prongs of the staples in connecting the approximated ends of the loops. The operator then manuallyremoves the finished loop after releasing both the levers 2 and 19 which are returned to their initial posit-ions by the traction of the reacting springs connected thereto.

My said machine, therefore, accomplishes quickly and perfectly in succession both functions of shaping, holding and fastening together the approximated parts of a loop, saving time and hand labor.

holder mounted to move to and from said approximated ends to receive a staple with .its prongs positioned to pierce said approximated ends and be clinched against the core.

2. In a machine of the character described, 1

a relatively fixed core, beaked shaping jaws pivoted to swing upwardly and embrace a strip of flexible material and shape it'into a loop around the core, mechanism including a reciprocatory plunger operable upon said jaws to swing them upon said strip and hold the strip releasably in its shaped looped position upon the core, and other mechanism movable to and from said looped strip, having holding means for a staple and'a driving element operable to drive said staple into said loop to'fasten together its approximated ends.

-3. In a machine of the character described, a relatively fixed core, shaper members for releasably shaping a flexible strip around the core and a plunger for releasably-actuating said members, a resiliently controlled apertured body supported for movements to and from said core, a hollow staple guide member mounted removably and to fit the aperture of said body with its hollow over said approximated ends of the strip, said hollow member being interiorly shaped to receive loosely and guide a prongedstaple therethrough, and a presser member movable into and out of said hollow member to drive the prongs of the staple through and clinch them so as tofasten together said approximated ends. I

'4. In a machine of the character described,

I a relatively fixed bracketed core bar, a relatively elastic plate supported below and spaced from said core bar, and like beaked formers supported pivotally below said plate to be swung simultaneously about opposite sides of said .core bar and space therefrom to compress and shape around the core bar a flexible strip into a closed loop with abutting ends, said formers having raised projections positioned below said plate adapted to engage the plate and flex the latter elastically against said strip to thus grip strips of varying thickness between it and said core bar. 1

' 5. In a machine of the character described, a fixed standard having superposed spaced bracket arms with vertically apertured bear- 7 ings, stems slidably mounted in said bearings, the uppermost stem having a terminal removable presser body mounted on its lower end, mechanism for lowering .and lifting said stem, oppositely swinging formers piv-,

otally mounted on a support intermediate said bracket arms, a core bar bracketed on the latter support above the pivot of said formers, a plate also bracketed on said support between and spaced from said core bar and said formers, to support a flexible stripv medially, mechanism for lifting and lowering the lowermoststem adapted in lifting the stem to project its upper part upon and swing up said formers to shape the end parts of said strip around the ends and top of said core'bar to bring their ends into abutting relation, an apertured bracket resiliently supported on the-uppermost stem, and a hollow staple holder mounted in the aperture of said bracket to receive staples within its hollow with their prongs directed downwardly toward said looped strip, whereby when the said presser body is lowered into said staple holder it drives the prongs of the staple through opposite ends'of the looped strip, said core body having depressionsto receive the points of the prongs and direct them in- 

